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Rally car strikes Irish crowd; 2 killed, 7 injured

DUBLIN (AP) — A race car went out of control on a rural Irish road and crashed into a crowd of about 30 spectators Sunday, killing two people and seriously injuring seven, authorities said.

Witnesses said the car crashed through a fence and into the onlookers before coming to rest on its side beside a home near Bailieborough, 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Dublin.

Police said two people — a 29-year-old woman from Cork, southwest Ireland, and a 50-year-old male photographer from the western city of Galway — were declared dead at the scene. Seven others, including the car's driver and navigational co-driver, were hospitalized with unspecified injuries.

Sunday's accident highlighted the dangers posed to drivers and viewers alike by Ireland's annual high-speed contests on hedge-lined, narrow country roads. At least four other people have been killed during races over the past decade as hundreds of miles (kilometers) of unmodified local roads are blocked off for use by souped-up rally cars.

Organizers of the Cavan Stages Rally involving about 100 cars in the border county of Cavan canceled the event following the accident. Police and the race organizer, Motorsports Ireland, both launched investigations into what went wrong.

Police Superintendent Gerry O'Brien said it was too early to say whether a mechanical failure or driver error caused the accident. He said the car, a modified Ford Escort, "went over a hump in the road, it went midair, and when it landed it appears it lost control and drove into spectators, a group of 30-odd people."